Softly the night is sleeping on Bethlehem's peaceful hill Silent the shepherds watching their gentle flocks are still But hark the wondrous music falls from the opening sky Valley and cliff re-echo glory to God on high Glory to God it rings again Peace on the earth goodwill to men.

Come with the gladsome shepherds quick hastening from the fold Come with the wise men bringing incense and myrrh and gold Come to him poor and lowly all round the cradle throng Come with your hearts of sunshine and sing the angels' song Glory to God tell out again Peace on the earth goodwill to men.

Wave ye the wreath unfading the fir tree and the pine Green from the snows of winter to deck the holy shrine Bring ye the happy children for this is Christmas morn Jesus the sinless infant Jesus the lord is born Glory to God to God again Peace on the earth goodwill to men.

There are two settings of this I came across at the Hymns and Carols of Christmas site (click), but both are dreadful (IMIO). I also found it mentioned as a "Padstow carol." It's also in the 1894 collection Songs That Never Die.

One would think that the A Song for Every Season book would include every song from the Song for Every Season LP set, but it doesn't. I checked Bob Copper's Songs and Southern Breezes,, and didn't find the song there, either.

Joe, I just checked the notes accompanying the A Song for Every Season LP set. They have an appendix with the words of the 15 (!) songs not included in the A Song for Every Season book, but unfortunately just the words, without a melody.

And the book also has a lot of songs that aren't on the LPs. If I have counted correctly, the LPs have 45 songs and the book has 47. So if 15 songs are on the LPs but not in the book, they have a common set of 30 songs, and 17 songs in the book are not on the LPs.

The song can be found in Worship in the Family and School-Room: A Manual of Devotion by William Theodore Wylie (Springfield, Mass.: W. J. Holland & Co., 1867), page 104, under the title GLORY TO GOD. It is attributed to Rev. Alfred Taylor, and appears with musical notation for 4 voices. It has an additional verse (the 2nd) not in the Copper's version:

Day in the east is breaking?day o'er the crimsoned earth; Now the glad world is waking, glad in the Saviour's birth! See where the bright star bendeth over the manger blest: See where the infant Jesus smiles upon Mary's breast! Glory to God!?we hear again, Peace on the earth, good will to men!

The other 3 verses agree exactly (except for punctuation) with those posted above.

However, I also found it in other later books with other titles, for example, PEACE ON EARTH and CHRISTMAS.

Maybe it's just as well to stick to the time-honored custom of calling hymns by their first line?SOFTLY THE NIGHT IS SLEEPING.